


#SantaBelieverForLife

by Kibbers



Series: Christmas OTP Challenge [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Letters to Santa, M/M, Trapped in an elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 20:59:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5390126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kibbers/pseuds/Kibbers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Gabe get trapped in an elevator. Fluff ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	#SantaBelieverForLife

**Author's Note:**

> Christmas OTP Challenge, Day 9: Letters to Santa. Come say hi on Tumblr [ here ](www.kibberswrites.tumblr.com) if you'd like! Be sure to check out the previous days and let me know what you think!

Sam had been ready to leave hours ago, but work had kept him in the office long after the last cubicle emptied around him. It was his last day before he flew home for the holidays and he’d been putting off work, trading it for packing and Christmas shopping, so now he had to get it finished or he wouldn’t have a job to come back to. The city was dark out the glass windows but it was far from the silent hours, cars honking and cluttering the streets as they crawled their way home through the thickening snow.

But, Sam had blocked out everything but the computer screen in front of him making his eyes burn, and the tapping of the keyboard beneath his fingers long ago. He sent off the last report he’d needed to type and shut the computer down, relief flooding his body. He was free. He packed quickly, not sparing a look outside, and shrugged on his jacket, the chill of the room finally wrapping its long fingers around his body and reminding him of its presence now his attention wasn’t focused elsewhere.

Sam shut off the lights behind him, plunging himself into darkness while the swirling, snow-full wind whipped against the building and howled at its obstruction. The sound didn’t register to Sam, his mind only on going home. In the carpeted hallway, he hit the button on the elevator, not wanting to walk the seven flights of stairs to the parking garage, and it arrived within seconds, opening its yellow-lit doors to him. He leaned against the railing, letting his head fall against the wall behind him, and the elevator began to carry him down.

A high-pitched ping let him know the elevator was stopping on floor 5 and he sighed. He hated being in the elevator with strangers. There was always too much silence to let it be and he never knew what to say to fill it gracefully. Usually, he just made it worse. Gabriel, the IT guy, walked in and Sam had to suppress a groan. Riding elevators with strangers: bad. Riding elevators with a man he’d been crushing on for the last two years: worse. The worst of the worst. A nightmare, if you will.

“Hey,” Gabe said as he walked in and hit the button to shut the doors. Sam nodded at him, heart pounding. He didn’t trust his voice not to betray him, so he didn’t give it the power to. Better to let the silence fall than to spill his secrets.

“You’re here late,” Gabe said, glancing over at Sam. He’d leaned against the wall by the buttons, feet crossed over each other and looking way too relaxed in comparison to Sam who was stiff as a board and fidgeting with his bag with his fingers and tugging at the jacket around his neck.

“Yeah,” Sam said after clearing his throat. “Leaving tomorrow for Christmas.”

“Oh, where you going?”

“Family’s in Kansas. We always have Christmas at my brother’s house.”

Gabe nodded. “Your brother, Dean, right?”

Sam nodded, frowning. “Yeah.”

“Oh, it’s just I remember he visited a while back is all. Shit, you probably think I’m stalking you or something. I’m not I promise. Trust me, if I was following you, I’d be a lot better at getting you alone.”

As he said that, the elevator lurched to a halt nowhere near the parking garage and the lights flickered, the dull emergency light blinking on. Sam’s heart sank. They were trapped.

“Shit, what the hell?” Gabriel said, looking at the ceiling like the answers to everything would be written there. He started pressing buttons, anything he could find, and the alarm started ringing through the elevator. The weatherman’s voice drifted through Sam’s mind, warning him of the storm brewing and ‘folks it’ll be a big one so be prepared tonight’ along with the snow thick haze out the windows and the yowling wind. He realized he’d been an absolute, oblivious idiot.

“I think the power’s out. Snowstorm and all,” Sam said. He didn’t know what to do.

“I didn’t even know it was snowing,” Gabriel muttered. How long had _he_ been working? It had been snowing softly that morning when Sam arrived and, he assumed, had only gotten worse since.

But, It wasn’t like Sam had any room to criticize. He worked in an office with a wall full of windows and he hadn’t noticed the snow until just now. IT didn’t have that luxury from what he remembered. He tended to avoid the area, not wanting to run into Gabriel and have to stutter his way through asking for help. Usually it was easy fixes too and he didn’t want Gabriel to think he was an idiot. It was dumb, but his nerves didn’t much care.

Sam pulled out his phone, but there was no service. The storm must have knocked out the cell towers along with the power. They had no way to tell anyone they were trapped. “No service.”

Gabriel nodded, his own phone in his hand. “Same.”

“Anyone on your floor still here?” Sam asked. Gabe shook his head. Though Sam knew what his response would be, he still felt a spike of panic.

“But, maybe someone on another floor is here. And maintenance comes at night right?”

“Not tonight, it’s a Thursday,” Sam said.

“What do you mean?”

“Maintenance gets Thursdays off every week.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, I talk to the crew sometimes when I’m here late. They’re pretty cool.” Sam flushed, regretting everything he’d said. He sounded like a lonely nerd, which, to be fair, wasn’t far from the truth. He just didn’t want Gabe to think him so.

Gabriel turned to the doors, pounding on them and starting to yell. “Hey, we’re in here! Anyone out there?”

But after five minutes and Sam’s joined voice, there was still no sound on the other side and they both gave up in defeat. They’d hear if anyone was near and could yell for help them. But now, Sam’s throat was scratchy and he just wanted to sit down before his panic overwhelmed him. He slid to the floor, slinging his bag off his shoulder, and tucked his knees to his chest. What if they were trapped until tomorrow? He had a flight to catch, and had to finish packing. What if he missed his flight? He couldn’t miss his flight. The ticket was expensive and changing it would cost him even more money. The walls started to creep towards him, and he became his panic. He could think of nothing else.

“Hey,” Gabriel said. “Hey, Sam, look at me.”

Sam slowly lifted his head and found Gabriel much closer, beside him, legs stretched in front of him. When had he gotten so close?

“We’re going to be fine, Sam, okay? Just fine. And if we have to stay here all night, at least I’ve got to spend it with a good-looking guy like you.”

Had he said good-looking or had Sam’s brain officially broken and he was hallucinating? He didn’t feel like he was hallucinating. He blinked a few times and Gabriel was still there, staring at him with his stupidly gorgeous eyes. Sam felt his brain calm, Gabriel radiating warmth beside him, his breath returning to his lungs. He was fine. He wasn’t alone. They’d get out of here eventually and he’d be on his merry way home.

The minutes ticked by and Sam couldn't stand the silence that had draped over him, heavy and suffocating. He didn’t know how long they’d be here and he’d go mad if they were silent the whole time. He rummaged in his bag, only finding some scrap paper and a few pens that he could do something with. The rest was work related and he didn’t feel like doing work. He’d been working all day and his brain had long ago switched off.

He held out a pen to Gabe. “Tic Tac Toe?”

“Sure,” Gabe beamed and they played a few games together, covering the paper in scribbles of black and blue ink, circles and x’s.

“So, your brother’s house?” Gabe asked in the middle of a game.

“Yeah, it’s him and his husband, our uncle, Bobby, his wife Jody, and our good friend, Charlie. Plus whichever strays they bring along. There’s not a whole lot of room, but there’s always welcome arms and food for whoever wanders in.”

“You ever brought anyone with you?”

“Once or twice,” Sam said. He didn’t really have a whole lot of people he wanted to bring anyway. “What about you? Where do you spend Christmas?”

Gabriel kept his eyes on the paper. “Here, usually.”

“What?” Sam asked. “You must go somewhere.” Sam simply couldn’t imagine not having a place to go, family to spend Christmas with. Spending it here, in this stiff office, had to be terrible.

“Eh, it’s not so bad. There aren’t usually very many people, so it’s pretty...quiet. Someone’s gotta get some work done to cover for all you with families to be with.”

And Sam wanted so badly to ask why this man, this glowing and cheer-filled man, didn’t have a family to spend time with, but he didn’t. Instead, he drew another circle on the paper and Gabriel took his turn, his shoulders visibly relaxing when Sam didn’t push it.

“Sorry,” Sam whispered.

“Oh, no it’s fine Sammy. Don’t worry about it.”

They moved on. An hour later, there was no noise from the outside, thoughts of rescue drifting farther from Sam’s mind, but the cold had filled the elevator as the building’s heaters turned off and Sam’s fingers were growing stiff. They’d given up tic tac tow a while ago, Gabriel humming Christmas songs while Sam just stared at the wall and listened to his soft voice.

“Got an idea,” Gabriel said, suddenly. “You have any more paper?”

Sam nodded and pulled out his beat up notebook. Gabriel tore out two pieces and handed one to Sam. “Letters to Santa.”

Sam hesitated. “Huh?”

“You know, like when you were a kid and you’d write a letter asking Santa for everything you wanted for Christmas? Let’s do it.”

“We’re grown men,” Sam protested.

“So? What else are we going to do?”

Sam shrugged and bent over his paper, shielding it from Gabriel’s eyes. Gabriel turned the other way and they sat back-to-back, writing about their Christmas wishes and far-flung dreams, things only Santa could bring. Sam paused before scribbling in finger-stiff scribbling. He wished for his brother to be happy, for the maintenance crew to have a nice day off, to his dog back at home not to miss him too much. The rest of the paper went to the man pressed against his back. Wished for Gabriel to find a family that made him happy, to have a happy Christmas, just to _be_ happy. He ran out of room before he finished but he left it at that and waited while Gabriel finished writing behind him.

“Wanna trade?” Gabe asked. Sam froze. He’d revealed himself too much in the damn thing and if Gabriel read it he would know how Sam felt. Plus who knows how long they'd be trapped in here. How awkward would it be if Gabriel didn’t reciprocate and they spent the rest of the time in silence again?

“Uhh,” Sam said, hoping Gabriel would change his mind or change the subject or get the hint.

“Here, read mine at least. You don’t have to share yours if you don’t want to.”

The paper fluttered into Sam’s lap and Gabriel got up, Sam’s back cold suddenly in his absence. Sam could hear him slide down against the far wall as he started to read his small, tight handwriting.

_Dear Santa,_

_I wish this fine piece of ass behind me would make a damn move already. I’ve liked him for years and I will forever believe in you if you make this happen. #SantaBelieverforLife_

_Also, I wish to get out of here (obviously) and for some real nice chocolate cake from that bakery down the street, though it’s probably closed by now._

_Peace out jolly good man, make my dreams come true._

_Gabriel_

Sam’s looked up, heart stuttering, to find Gabriel watching him. He stood up, the papers and pens falling from his lap to the floor, and took a step towards him. Gabriel stood too, eyes glowing somehow in the dim light. His cheeks were flushed from the cold, his nose red, and he looked damn good.

Sam kissed Gabe without a word, heart singing. Finally, it screamed. After all these years. Sam could hardly believe it even after Gabe brushed a hand across Sam’s cheekbone. Even after Gabriel wrapped an arm around his back and tugged him closer. Even after Sam backed him against the wall and deepened the kiss. When he pulled away, Gabriel muttered something against the skin his neck.

“What?” Sam whispered.

“Hashtag Santa Believer for Life,” Gabriel said. And Sam couldn’t help the laughter that spilled forth, echoing through their temporary prison. Gabe giggled too and they sank to the floor, wrapped around each other to fend off the cold while they waited for rescue together.

* * *

They were holding hands, Gabe drooling against Sam’s chest when the doors finally sprang open, many hours into the morning. And even though Sam didn’t have much time, he took Gabriel to the bakery down the street and bought them each a chocolate cake to eat as the sun rose and started to melt the built up snow.

Sam showed up at Dean’s door, a few hours later and a few hundred dollars lighter, Gabe’s hand still firmly clasped in his.


End file.
